Kal-El Returns
by Canicus
Summary: Pre-Crisis Superman competes in the Cell tournament.


Kal-El's Return  
  
Information:  
  
Dragonball Z: I am using mostly things as they are presented in DBZ. It doesn't have a multitude of different universes and incarnations. I do not know how far in the future it is set, so I guessed at a time and let go.  
  
Superman: There have been a great number of different Supermen. For example, the 1938 Superman couldn't even fly, while later on, Superman was powered up to the extreme that he became uninteresting since he couldn't be challenged. I am drawing from a variety of incarnations. In this "elseworlds" style universe there weren't any other heroes during Superman's era besides of the JLA. I also realize that the current continuum doesn't match everything I'm using, but I'm doing it in an alternate universe and basing it primarily on earlier incarnations, thus, it doesn't have to. Luthor was a mad scientist not the brilliant head of a corporation, and there will be others.  
  
Kakerot  
  
The planet Vegeta glistened in the cold of space. It's warriors gathered at the behest of their king to fight Freeza. Their king had fallen, these men watched in horror as their slave-master destroyed their planet. Bardok, while watching these atrocities, yelled triumphantly "My son lives. My son lives!" Indeed, Kakerot lived.  
  
The energy ball descended upon the planet, and the madman who hurled it laughed manically. On board his craft was the prince of the Saiyajins, Vegeta. The young warrior would be oblivious to what was occurring until informed of its events, by this madman.   
  
Freeza believed he had all but exterminated the Saiyajins, but he was wrong. One child was sent to earth in a spacecraft with the orders to exterminate the human race. When the craft landed on earth, it was found by an old man named Gohan.  
  
At first, the young Saiyajin fought tenaciously against his new stepfather. For an infant this child was incredibly strong, but had a nasty temper. His programming to destroy human life on earth and prepare it for sale dominated his young mind, but one day Gohan accidentally dropped the young Saiyajin on his head. Thereafter, this child, now named Gouku, was mild mannered and kind.  
  
With his programming forgotten, the young warrior was now easily raised by his new father. He came of age, entered society, and was easily assimilated. He eventually married Chi Chi, and had a son he named Gohan.  
  
Kal-El  
  
Jor-El stood before Krypton's council. He was a respected scientist and announced his news boldly. "Krypton is doomed. Our planet's core has become unstable and is about to explode. We should evacuate as many as we can."  
  
The council reacting with anger and ridicule responded "And where do you propose that we go Jor-El, and how do we get there?"  
  
Jor-El calmly responded, "Earth."  
  
Laughter filled the room, as another spouted "Why hasn't another scientist brought this to our attention? Go away before we lose all respect for you!"  
  
The proud scientist left as a room filled with laughter taunted him. Upon returning home, his wife, Lara met him at the door. "They didn't believe you did they?"  
  
"No..." he started to respond, but another of the tremors broke off his sentence. He looked around the room, worried, and made a startling realization. "My love, I believe that this planet's end is coming quicker than I thought. Quickly, we have to send our son off."  
  
As they walked into a room, a small spaceship sat in the middle. Jor-El placed the child into the matrix, and looked at his wife, "There is room enough for two," gesturing towards the craft.  
  
"No, I couldn't leave you. I am confident that Kal-El will find loving parents on earth and will gain powers far beyond those of mortal men. I should be with you, and you with me."  
  
The rocket fled the planet as it was engulfed in flames. The planet sent forth the deadly shards of kryptonite, which would be one of the few things that could harm the young Kal-El in the future.  
  
In Kansas, an elderly couple was driving through the country, and saw the rocket land. Upon investigating it, Jonathan and Martha Kent spotted the young Kal-El and adopted him, renaming him Clark Kent.  
  
Clark, coming of age, moved to the city Metropolis and began work for the Daily Planet. During a robbery of an experimental tank, he debuted in his familiar red, blue, and yellow costume. His own paper dubbed him Superman, but his arch nemesis succeeded in forcing him into hiding through a public execution of his wife, Lois, in a media frenzy. Superman, filled with grief, retreated to the Fortress of Solitude before Gouku was ever born. There were no other metahumans.  
  
Androids and more Androids  
  
The Z warriors had been waiting for a three years for androids to appear, and when they did, Vegeta defeated them and Gouku fell victim to a heart virus, and just when things got to looking better, another android, Cell appeared, who was an artificial life form made up of all the DNA patterns of the most powerful warriors in to grace the earth in the last decade or so.  
  
This monster's sole desire is to become complete by absorbing androids 17 & 18, which he achieved with the help of a proud Vegeta, who believed himself invincible. The mighty Saiyajin prince was soundly defeated by Cell, and his son, in turn, followed suit. In his own honor, and for sick, sadistic pleasure, Cell decided to host a tournament. The Z warriors began to prepare for the tournament by spending time in a hyperbolic time chamber in order to increase their strength. It is here that this universe's story diverges.  
  
Piccolo  
  
Piccolo pushed open two large, heavy wooden doors and emerged from the hyperbolic time chamber. The year had been long and hard, but he had survived, with his sanity intact. To the outsiders, he had only been gone a day, but he could feel his strength pulse through his body, but somehow, knew that it wasn't enough. He knew that the monster he was going to fight was still stronger.  
  
He flexed his two green arms in frustration, bringing his white cape up a bit as he did so. As he gazed off the bowl-shaped airborne platform he stood on, somebody walked up and tapped him on the shoulder, "I see you've been training in the hyperbolic time chamber. You seem lots stronger now."  
  
Piccolo turned towards Gouku, annoyed at the man's grin. "Why don't you just say it? I'm not strong enough to defeat Cell."  
  
"Nope, no chance, but hey, I came up here to ask you something. Can you split with Kami?"  
  
"No, once two Nameks fuse, they can never split apart."  
  
Gouku sighed and explained "Oh, that's too bad. Cell's killed a bunch of people, and I wanted to wish them back with the dragonballs," but after a brief pause, he got that look of excitement. "Maybe I can use my Instant Transmission technique to transport me to New Namek and I can convince one of them to come back and make some new dragonballs."  
  
"I doubt it." Piccolo countered, but he observed Gouku trying anyway.  
  
They all waited silently, and then the fun loving Saiyajin shrugged his shoulders, "Nope can't do it, but I'll try again from King Kai's." In an instant, he was gone.  
  
Something nagged at Piccolo at the moment. Now Vegeta had entered the chamber, but something seemed amiss to him, as if they were leaving out a warrior. He simply adjusted his turbine and turned from the others to meditate.   
  
He couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing someone, so he directed his thoughts over the world trying to locate this missing warrior. All of his comrades were accounted for and Bulma was working on android 16. No, he had a feeling that this was a warrior he didn't know, but a noble one, nonetheless. Kami must have known about this man, but he couldn't access the memory and there was constant chatter behind him, which, while uncharacteristic of him, he couldn't block it. In a fit of anger, he bolted off the platform. He'd meditate in artic wastelands. No one would bother him there so that he could remember who it was he was to find.  
  
The Door  
  
Once in Antarctica, he found a nice secluded spot with a large cliff nearby. Strangely, he felt he should be here and promptly began his meditation. As he moved his spirit to meditate, the ice around him began to shatter and fall. He continued cracking the ice under him, and suddenly, he had a revelation. He jumped and turned seeing that he had felt right. There was a huge, strange golden door with a keyhole. Near it was a large arrow-shaped key.  
  
Curiosity got the better of the Namek about, so he tried to push the door open to no avail. Clearly, this place was abandoned, so he charged up his energies and blasted it, but it didn't do anything to it. He stood there with his mouth wide open, shooting white vapors from it. Finally, he had a thought. He'd move that huge key into the whole. This was a ridiculous set-up, but if it looked like it, it might work.  
  
He glided over to the key and tried to heave it, but it didn't budge. This thing weighed far more than it looked. Immediately he began powering up. With exertion, he lifted the key and placed it in the hole. Finally, he pushed the door open and wandered in.  
  
This place was like some huge museum. There were artifacts everywhere. It felt like a museum. The mighty Namek just stood there and stared off at the equipment only to have a loud mechanical voice, very clearly an android's voice. "Intruder, you are to leave this premise immediately. If you do not, I will be forced to take action!"   
  
Piccolo knew fighting words when he heard them, so he turned to see a human-looking android dressed in ridiculous blue, yellow, and red spandex sporting the most unstylish haircut he'd ever seen. "Which creation are you? Gero was busier than we thought."  
  
The response caught Piccolo by surprise. The android rushed at him and threw him against the wall. He noted two things. It fought differently than anyone he'd fought in the past. It'd always seemed scripted that they would talk for an eternity before they fought, and it seemed to be more of a security or work system. "What model are you, and how strong are you?" After all, any android besides 16 always boasted about its strength.  
  
As Piccolo began charging his energy, it hit him again. This thing had no honor. Every other villain he had fought was stupid enough to let him do that. Again, there was another difference.   
  
Now he was back out in the arctic, and it was shooting energy blasts at him from its eyes. They were similar to androids 19 and 20's blasts, but they seemed to be designed to burn, not explode, and burn into the warrior they did. "I don't want to hurt you."  
  
"That's a new one." the Namek responded firing blasts around the android. The android continued to rush in and strike him, while he dashed away and fired shots around this android dressed in women's leggings. Finally it was time, "You're just as stupid as 17."  
  
His opponent looked up at a sky filled with energy balls which came cascading down. Piccolo was able to quickly power up while they struck. Now he was at his full power. The ice had given way to water vapor and sleet as it condensed in the air. To his dismay, the android stood there unharmed.   
  
Piccolo realized that to win, he needed another maneuver, so he began charging up for his powerful beam attack. He was now holding his own with this strange android. His power had put him ahead in the race, but it was still going to be a fight. He wasn't injuring it at all, as if it were invulnerable, but it wasn't powerful enough to hurt him either. Androids, though, didn't tire.   
  
Finally, it felt like he had enough, so he kicked some distance away and unleashed his attack directly at the android's eye. After a huge explosion, he noticed the shot had destroyed its left eye and left cracks there, but it still hovered in the air repeating "malfunction" over and over again. Then it turned to him, and shot him with its "heat vision" quickly burning an arm off. Fortunately, his arms always grew back, but he couldn't see a way to defeat this monstrosity, so he was about to super-charge his power when the thing just exploded. He would fly back and tell the other Z warriors immediately, more androids.  
  
Superman  
  
He paused only for a minute to have his arm to pop back up, and it did just as it had in times past. He gathered the energy around himself and was about to leave when he heard a voice, much like the androids, but more human sounding from behind him command "You're not going anywhere, buster, until you answer some questions."  
  
He turned and there was another warrior with bad fashion sense. This warrior looked about the same as the android, but was older. He had a streak of white along the lower portion of his black hair. Though the Namek couldn't sense any power, the man's stance, hovering in midair with his arms crossed, simply exuded power as he stared at him.  
  
"First you blast your way into my fortress, then you attack one of my robots, and finally, I had to save you from it. You have some explaining to do on what you were up to."  
  
"I didn't see you destroy that robot, but I do recognize who you're trying to look like. Superman's dead. He disappeared over a century ago and he didn't have the kind of speed then that I couldn't see him destroy that android. That kind of power only comes from ki energy and he never had it. I don't know which model you are, but I'm taking you down. Hard."  
  
Surprisingly, this older man just stood there and let him supercharge himself. He simply watched. Finally, the Namek unleashed a blinding flurry of energy attacks, having them all explode on this "Superman's" chest. When the water vapor from the attacks cleared, the man stood there without so much as a scratch. Piccolo refusing to be beaten charged and kicked him square on the side of the head. He hurt his foot.  
  
"Now will you listen to reason and talk?" the Kryptonian ask while the Namek stood there frozen with his mouth open.  
  
Finally, after a second, he explained, "The earth is in danger, and I came here to meditate and train for the Cell games. When I saw the door to you, 'Fortress,'" Piccolo laced it with a load of sarcasm, "I felt that I should have a look. Your android attacked me. Don't get me wrong. I'm still not convinced you're him. You're probably another android, but you haven't killed me while you're obviously capable of it, so I'll at least talk."  
  
"Tell me more about these Cell games..." and so the conversation went on with Piccolo informing the Kryptonian of everything he'd learned. Finally, deeply moved, Superman looked at Piccolo and moaned "Is this what the Earth has come to during my exile...a super-powered monster without any real opposition intent on murdering the world? Great Krypton, what have I done?"  
  
"Exile? We all though you died during the Luthor incident."  
  
"No, Luthor had managed to turn the tide of public favor towards himself, pretending to have changed his ways. The public perception went from mad scientist to savior. Lois was investigating him and made some startling discoveries, proving that he hadn't changed at all. He had her set up, and I could only watch while she was executed."  
  
"Why didn't you help?"  
  
"Because, I believe in the system. I can't stop it without proof, but I tried. I found out several things, the first being that Luthor was really the Ultra-Humanite, a mad scientist who kept himself alive by switching bodies. When I charged in, he flashed a ring of gold kryptonite before me, which meant I was permanently powerless, or so I thought. I watched helplessly from behind his force field as Lois was executed. All the while, he bragged and pointed to his accomplishment. Now he was a respected man and would soon have more power than any mortal before him, which obviously meant that I was going to be his next host. I couldn't allow him such power, so I killed him."  
  
Kal-El continued with a tear in his eye, "When I did, his force field shut down and I could hear everything in the outside world. There never was any gold kryptonite. I found out the hard way that J'onn was wrong. There was one more Martian, a white one who had telepathically deceived me into believing that. I failed Lois, so I placed myself in this self-imposed exile and cut myself completely off from the world. I had sworn a vow that I would never take a life. I almost exiled myself into the Phantom Zone, but Batman managed to convince me not to."  
  
Piccolo was speechless. This man had been through so much. Then he took a second look at Superman and noticed the black in the "S" where there was once yellow. He'd obviously been mourning all this time. "How did you get this powerful? You weren't this powerful when you were active."   
  
"Yes and no. I grow more powerful by absorbing solar radiation, but in that era, I was still powerful enough to help. I was able to juggle planets and fly between galaxies."  
  
"I don't believe that. Kami would have known about it."  
  
"No, the Ultra-Humanite's plans extended all the way to Kami. He'd been setting up misinformation and creating illusions since not long after I appeared. I'm amazed he miscalculated so badly at the end to leave himself open to me."  
  
"I don't see how one man could fool the entire world, but I'll grant it. I've seen stranger things. Now, why didn't you age and can you really keep up a long fight?"  
  
"Yes, I don't tire, so I can keep up. As for aging, the older I get the slower I age. I'm virtually immortal, and I'm taking responsibility for this situation. I cannot allow another innocent to suffer because I failed to act."  
  
Introductions  
  
Vegeta sat there impatiently with his arms crossed. He stared off into the horizon and eventually spouted, "So, when do we see this...Superman?"  
  
"Soon, he should be here any minute now. I don't know what's keeping him."  
  
"I doubt he can be as powerful as Kakerot, much less me. At his age, he should just retire."  
  
A sudden wind caught them all, and the deep voice of Superman spoke again, "I apologize for being late. I had to stop a hurricane off the coast of Florida and a tsunami was about to hit in Italy."  
  
The Z warriors just stared in silence as the large muscular man walked forward. He looked to be in his early sixties, which certainly didn't betray his true age. Vegeta smirked at the site after a short while and commented, "Piccolo, I can't believe that this old man is as powerful as you say, and as for you old man. Go home and retire again. I can handle this."  
  
Kal-El stared him down and corrected, "I doubt that you can. From what Piccolo has told me, none of you has enough power to handle Cell."  
  
Vegeta protested loudly, "You dare to speak to me, the prince of all Saiyajin's, like that?!"  
  
"Listen, son, I..."  
  
"I am not your son or any other commoner's, you weakling!" he roared turning Super Saiyajin and lunging at Superman, who did not move. His now powered up fist struck Superman directly in the gut to no effect. He struck again only to be hurled from the platform.  
  
Gouku, finally speaking popped up and ask, "Whoa, what kind of throw was that. I've never seen anything like it before."  
  
Superman looked at him and replied "Kryptonian Judo."  
  
"Cool, can we eat? I'm starved, besides, we need to give Vegeta time to cool down."  
  
The Cell Games  
  
Days past, and it had finally become the day of the tournament. Most of the Z warriors had come to like Superman, who was now going by Kal-El. Most, that is, except Vegeta, for he had come to despise the Kryptonian after their little conflict.  
  
Now they stood over the arena and Cell was there victorious and arrogant, as always. Superman stepped into the arena with the super-pets flying around in the sky, and Cell laughed. "Do you actually believe that you can intimidate me by showing up in skin-tight blue underwear? You look ridiculous."  
  
On the sidelines Krillin noted, "Yeah, he's right about that one, but at least he doesn't look like a flying cockroach."  
  
"I'm putting a stop to you here and now. You won't harm anyone else."  
  
"You are a fool, 'Superman'" Cell commented, at which the super-monkey fired a heat ray down at Cell burning him. "You stupid monkey!"  
  
Before Cell could act, Superman reprimanded, "Beppo, Krypto, all of you. Go back to the Fortress."  
  
"You are pitiful, having low-class Saiyajins around. Now we fight!"  
  
Without warning Cell launched skyward, he intended to give his victim time to power up. Instead, though, the Kryptonian launched himself into the air following Cell. The giant roach launched Gouku's attack at him, yelling "Kamehameha!" It struck harmlessly on Superman's chest.  
  
"Impressive. Too bad I didn't use anywhere near my full power with that one."  
  
He pointed a finger at one of the members of the news crew and unleashed an energy attack. At the instant it left it's finger, Superman appeared there and blocked the blast.  
  
He looked at an astounded Cell and informed him, "I can't allow you to go free any longer. Suddenly, he came in at unimaginable speeds, and pummeled Cell. Finally, with Cell weakened and on the ground he yelled "Krypto! Bring me the Phantom Zone projector."  
  
Cell was getting up, obviously healed and very angry, but Superman now had the projector back from his dog, which had powers far beyond those of mortal dogs, and cast him into the Phantom Zone. Superman would never kill again.  
  
"That's that. I will never again take a human life."  
  
Luthor's Legacy  
  
Later, at a world news conference both heralding Superman as hero and welcoming him back, the Z gang stood with Kal-El on the podium. Superman insisted they stand there, though they objected, but he convinced them. They suspected super-hypnosis later.  
  
A young, petite girl asks for Superman's interview. She bore more than a passing resemblance to Lana, so he asked her up from a sense nostalgia. "You saved us all. What does it feel like being a hero?"  
  
"It's a great responsibility Ms."  
  
"Lang, Ms. Lang," the young woman cooed, "I believe you knew my great grandmother."  
  
"Great Scott! I thought you looked like Lana." Superman exclaimed.  
  
She just grinned and held out a piece of coal. "I know you changed coal into a diamond for her, could you do it for me?"  
  
"Sure. It's the least I could do for Lana," he said as he took the stone from her.  
  
She piddled with her reddish orange hair as he squeezed the stone. Suddenly she erupted into deep-throated giggles as an energy field erupted around him and she informed him, "Don't bother struggling. It uses your strength to imprison you. You won't escape me this time Superman!" She suddenly metamorphosed into a fat and bald man. "You didn't really think you killed Lex Luthor back then did you? It was a shell, a clone programmed to think it was me. I, the Ultra-Humanite, and have planned for this day. I discovered a strange isotope, which allowed me to travel through time to this era. Why am I here..."  
  
Suddenly, Gouku lunged at Luthor only to be repelled by a spherical force field. Luthor looked at him while pulling out a purple rock. "You pitiful fools. Did you really think that I, the greatest criminal genius of any time, would leave myself open to your petty attacks?"  
  
"Now where were we Clark? Oh yes, I knew your secret identity for years. It's too bad that you and Lois never had children. That had to change my plans some. Ah, but now we're back to the subject. I made this kryptonite from all the kryptonite that fell onto the earth. I realize that you are immune to normal kryptonite after all those years of absorbing solar radiation, but this can affect you even now. In fact, it can even slowly shatter your mind while it kills you. Once I revive your body I can take it, and simply put myself at the head of the current world government," Luthor informed him, grinning.  
  
Gouku, no mental giant, tried blasting the force field around Luthor only to feel it pull energy. Luthor, still holding the kryptonite, looked over at him, "I know all about your fighting techniques. It will drain all your energy now that you've attacked it. You'd have to get inside it to beat me."  
  
Gouku suddenly hit himself on the head with that look of why didn't I think of this earlier, put two fingers on his nose, promptly disappearing. Luthor's mistake had always been talking too much, and now Gouku appeared in front of him and, using his index finger, knocked him out. He looked down at the defeated Luthor, and made the comment, "I can't believe I forgot about my Instant Transmission technique."  
  
He looked down at the kryptonite and heard Superman mutter "K-kryptonite. Get it back. Beginning to hallucinate."  
  
Gouku looked down at it and said, "Oh, you're right." He picked it up and disappeared again only to appear a few moments later. He laughed and said "I gave it to King Kai. That's probably the safest place for it."  
  
Superman recovered, now laughed and thanked Gouku saying, "You probably saved the world there, son. Luthor had me on the ropes there. I've heard you can eat anything. How about I thank you by making some Kryptonian Sushi?"  
  
Gouku laughed uproariously with his hand on his head. "Gee, thanks."  
  
"I'd like to hear about he time you defeated Freeza. I heard that was quite a fight."  
  
"Sure thing Kal, is it true that you sneezed out a solar system because you got Kryptonian Pepper in your nose?"   
  
Epilogue  
  
As Luthor was carted away, he yelled, "My master plan, how could I have lost? Batman's gone. Only the world's finest could have defeated me!" The heroes laughed and went their separate directions save Gouku and Superman. About that moment, a dark figure disappeared into the shadows, proud to have kept one bit of information from Luthor. They were, indeed, the World's Finest. He was now glad to have taken over the Demon's empire and was looking forward to seeing Talia again. He would talk to Clark later.  



End file.
